NASA: Sunita Williams’ Return to Earth Delayed Until March 19”

NASA: NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have been aboard the International Space Station (ISS) since June 2024, far beyond their planned eight-day mission, due to technical issues with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft.

Weather conditions and technical problems affecting the SpaceX Crew-10 mission have further delayed their return, which is now rescheduled for March 14, 2025. Once Crew-10 arrives, Williams and Wilmore are expected to return to Earth no earlier than March 19, 2025.

NASA’s crewed mission, SpaceX Crew-10, is targeting a March 14, 7:03 p.m. EDT launch from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The mission will send four astronauts - NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov - to replace Sunita and Butch at the ISS.

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Crew-10 is the 10th crew rotation mission of SpaceX's human space transportation system and its 11th flight with crew aboard, including the Demo-2 test flight, to the space station through NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov have safely exited the Dragon spacecraft. The rocket is also safe.

The SpaceX crew Dragon was to ferry back Astronaut Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore if all had gone well by March 19. NASA had factored a quicker turnaround time for the SpaceX Crew Dragon to minimise the use of consumables at the International Space Station.

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The Cost of Spaceflight: Salary, Support, and Sacrifices

Being an astronaut isn’t just about the adventure—it’s a demanding profession with financial and personal implications. Sunita Williams, a seasoned astronaut with two prior spaceflights, is classified under the GS-15 pay grade within the US government’s General Schedule (GS) pay scale. This places her estimated salary at around $152,258 per year (approximately INR 1.26 crore).

In addition to their salaries, NASA astronauts rastronauts receive benefits such as housing allowances, preferential car loan options, and comprehensive health insurance. These perks, while valuable, hardly compensate for the sacrifices astronauts make—months or even years away from family, the physical toll of microgravity, and the ever-present risks of space travel.

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